Yeah in case you guys didn't know the economy is heading down the drain. People have been talking about recession sense like the summer of 2007 but oil prices didn't climb nearly as much as was predicted. Seems like it waited till winter and oil's hit $100/barrel for the first time.

It's probably not going to drop out tomorrow but I bet by the end of summer this year we'll be in another recession. Look at some of the news; World Bank lost 95% of profits, 2007 saw more inflation than any other year for a really long time, stocks from around the world are dropping dramatically -- the most sense 9/11, interest rates cut 3/4% (just a few minutes ago, they cut it .5% over the weekend and apparently they didn't think that was good enough), plus all the ominous stuff that people have been talking about for several months now -- housing market, loans etc.

Moonbats get scared when the big guys make lots of profits. Moonbats get scared when the big guys' profits drop. Must be a miserable existence.

Hey, I'm all for the interest rate falling. I can do a refinance on my mortgage at any time to take advantage of it.

Seems like here in Australia, interest rates do nothing but slowly rise lately. Seven times in past 2 years I think. And the damn AU dollar just goes up in value - which hurts me directly as I am paid in US dollars.

Ouch. I remember a month or so back when super-model Gisele stopped accepting US$ for payment and preferred Euro's. It was a rather silly story at the time, but now she seems like a genius.

I suppose you already know that on Tuesday the US$ lost 2% to the AU$. I guess it is not to its lowest point yet, though (see graph).
Fortunately, the US markets (and international markets) seem to have turned around in the past two days.

Anybody think the worst is behind us?

This isn't any more genius than it was back then. The exchange rates aren't that much affected right now. The rise of the Euro continues just like before.

It may depend on how Frankfurt will react if at all.

Right now, we're still wondering about the consequences of the US-Government's 15G$ cash injection which caused much of the international turbulences.

Personally I think the best solution would be to lower wages for at least a decade, and trying to get exports going again, rather then massive imports.

That's mainly the problem the US now has to suffer from, the change from an exporting nation to an importing nation.

personally still loving it, i can buy stuff from the states and even with the extra shipping costs im still saving between 30-35% on most things i buy.

Looks like GM agrees with you. They are trying to buyout a large group of the higher paid workers so they can replace them with lower paid workers (less benefits).

But in other areas of the country that do not have strong unions, the wages are already depressed. Income has been pretty flat for much of the past five years.